Will Digambar walk tall?

MARGAO 

The by-election assumes significance for both the five-time MLA and his challenger, the BJP, before they cross swords yet again at the 2017 hustings in less than five months from now. The reason is simple. In the October 2015 municipal poll, the Margao MLA’s Model Margao panel had won as many as six out of the 11 seats at stake in the city. The BJP could manage to win just two seats with the remaining seats going to the Independents.  

Much water, however, has flown down the river Sal over the last one year since the municipal election. From just two seats, the BJP’s strength in the Margao municipality (from Margao city) has now climbed to four seats and is now virtually tied with Digambar’s Model Margo panel at 4-4. What has brought about a change in the political equation in the Margao civic body over the last one year was Independent Councilor Arthur D’Silva’s decision to embrace the BJP, and Councilor Suchita Malkarnekar returning back to the party fold post-election.  

That’s not all. With both the BJP and the Margao MLA tied with four seats each, the equations have undergone a change at the ward level too. The current political equation indicates that the BJP continues to maintain its stranglehold in its traditional areas of Comba and Malbhat. On the other hand, Digambar Kamat has had a free run in the areas of Colmorod-Sirvodem-Khareband belt “ areas all falling on the southern side of the railway line. It’s another matter that the councillor representing the Colmorod ward Jaffer Sheikh is reported to 

have parted ways with the Margao MLA.  

That explains why the two camps are locked in the ongoing battle for the Aquem area “ where the BJP had almost drawn a blank in the 2015 municipal poll, but now enjoys a representation in the civic body after Independent Councilor Arthur D’Silva joined the party a couple of months ago. In the 2015 municipal poll, Digambar Kamat’s panel had won three out of the four seats at stake.  

However, the defeat of his close aide Damu Shirodkar against Arthur D’Silva in ward 22 (Aquem) was considered in political circles as a setback for the Margao MLA, whose writ once ran large in the Aquem area, right from Moti Dongor to the plains of the city.  

Local political observers say that Digambar cannot afford to loose the ensuing by-poll as a defeat for his candidate would not just mean that he would have to be content with only two out of the four seats in the Aquem area, but would send a wrong signal to the electorate ahead of the 2017 election.  

On the other hand, the BJP is going all out in the party’s bid to checkmate the five-time MLA in his fiefdom. That the BJP is a divided house is an open secret, but that the party leaders and ticket aspirants Sharmad Raiturcar, Rupesh Mahatme, Bhai Naik and Naveen Raikar have all put up an united face in support of the party-backed candidate Succcorina Fernandes shows the anxiety in the party to wrest the seat from its arch rival and make its presence felt in Aquem as well after Comba and Malbhat.  

That the BJP leadership has decided to field a Catholic woman as its candidate for the by-poll further indicates that the party has not only set its eyes on the Aquem seat, but is bracing up for the Assembly elections due in less than five months time.  

Says Digambar Kamat: “Our Panel has fielded Deepa Shirodkar for the by-poll. We have started our campaign in the right earnest. We have full faith in the people of Aquem. Those who are saying so many things will receive an answer from the people when the ballots are opened for counting.”  

BJP Councillor Rupesh Mahatme pointed out that the BJP is going to the by-poll unitedly in order to win the seat. “I personally perceive the by-poll as a semi-final battle with the Margao MLA ahead of 2017,” Rupesh added.  

The by-election is witnessing a triangular contest between Digambar’s Deepak Shirodkar, BJP’s Succorina Fernandes and Sonali Kale, the candidate backed by the Shadow Council for Margao.